2002/12/01 by Marcin Antczak, Szymon Konwerski, S Grobelny +1 · 4 citations
Environmental Science · #Avian ecology and behavior #Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation #Biology #Predation #Habitat #White (mutation) #Food preference #Ecology #Zoology #Food science
paper · doi:10.1675/1524-4695(2002)025[0424:tfcoia]2.0.co;2
openalex publication_date 2002/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
The food of immature White Storks (Ciconia ciconia) feeding in meadows in Poland was studied by pellet analysis. The most important food items by numbers were insects, mainly beetles, which constituted 83% of all prey items (N = 5,958 items) and were found in all pellets (N = 163). However, by biomass, 58% of food consisted of small mammals, mainly voles Microtus sp. Insects (22%) and earthworms (11.5%) were secondary resources. Literature on White Stork diet in Europe also showed that voles, insects and earthworms were the dominant food of breeding White Storks. Their roles changed with latitude, habitat, time, as well as method of data analysis. Generally, the diet of non-breeding storks was similar to breeding birds, but more of the prey was obtained in dry habitats.